APES - EcoColumn Purpose
Purpose: The purpose of the ecocolumn lab is to provide an opportunity to explore several types of ecosystems, the components of these systems, the conditions required for sustainability for each, and the interconnections between the various ecosystem column chambers.

Materials:
Provided 5 Two-liter plastic soda bottles - clear, labels removed, rinsed 3 Bottle caps with holes drilled Rock for aquatic chamber - to hold plant and for stability 1 Plastic straw Clear mailing tape - to secure column Soil and sand Utility or exacto knives
You provide Leaves, grass clippings, pieces of fruit 46 seeds - for terrestrial chamber Aquatic plant (anacharis, hornwort, green hedge, ludwigia, etc.) Fuana - Aquatic chamber (snails, fish, crayfish, frog, etc.) Water - for Aquatic Chamber: Purified water Fuana - Terrestrial chamber (worms, rolly-pollys, ladybugs, etc.)

Procedures outlined in schematic below:
Monitoring: Over the Next 10 -12 weeks, possibly longer, you will monitor the factors found on the data sheet, plus several others. These levels will be recorded and analyzed throughout the experiment.
Water Analysis
Date
Odor
Turbidity
Color
Nitrate -N
Phosphate
D.O.
Hardness
Carbon Dioxide
Chloride
Alkalinity
Ammonia -N
Silica
Sulfide
pH
Other
Biome Observations
Date
Aquatic Habitat
Decomposition Habitat
Terrestrial Habitat

Scientific method you should follow during your lab.

Step one: Identify what you are trying to discover through the creation of your ecocolumn. Just what is that you are trying to learn or find out.

Step two: Identify your sources of background information on ecosystems such as specific textbook chapters and lecture notes.

Step three: Write an hypothesis for each of the three habitats: aquatic, decomposition, and terrestrial.

Step four: Write an explanation and diagram of your experimental set-up. Be sure to identify all of the abiotic and biotic factors in each of your three habitats. Make sure to include all your weekly observations as raw data. All such observations must be properly dated. Also, make sure to include the date when you set up your ecocolumn, and the dates and descriptions when changes were made. Identify the number of days your ecocolumn has been in operation. Identify the pH, temperature, and dissolved oxygen content of your aquatic habitat and the point during the experiment when these measurements were taken. Make comparisons with data from other ecocolumns in the classroom. Look for such things as plant growth, decomposition rate, and water turbidity.

Step five Conclusion and analysis: This is the most important part of the report.

1. Identify food chains and food webs in each of the habitats.

2. Identify any biogeochemical cycles that are present.

3. Determine the affects of each habitat on the others.

4. Determine why there are differences in the ecocolumns in the classroom.

5. Identify the roles of various biotic factors such as decomposers, producers, consumers, etc.

6. Identify changes that occurred in ecocolumn, such as the water going from murky to clear in the aquatic habitat. explain why you think such changes occurred and their implications as far as the health of the ecosystem is concerned.

7. Compare your artificial ecosystem to real ones. How are they different?

8. Was the ecosystem a open or closed system or something in-between - how does this affect your column?

9. What kinds of niches were available to the various organisms and was there any competition? 10. Was the law of tolerance in action? If so, what where the limiting factors in the habitat?

11. Was there any form of succession in yours or anyone else's ecocolumn?

12. Did the plant life seemed to have a difficult time in the terrestrial habitat? if so, why?

13. Was there a change in color in any of the habitats? Was there any fuzzies present? What caused these changes?

14. Comment on the stability and sustainabilty of various ecocolumns in the classroom. Why do some of the columns appear to be more stable than others?

15. Explore any analogies that can be made between your mini worlds (ecocolumns) and the real world. Do the ecocolumns teach us anything about real world ecosystems.

Step six: The sixth step of the scientific method is to disseminate what you have learned.